Epidemiologists in areas of the U.S. that had been hit hardest by swine flu last spring say they're not seeing a breakout so far this October, indicating that they may be benefiting from an immune effect. If they're right, the country may not be in for the tsunami of new cases that had been predicted. Article

In a new poll, more than a third of all U.S. parents said they do not want to have their child vaccinated against swine flu, with a large group worried about side effects and another segment pooh-poohing the potential health threat. Report

Baxter International said yesterday that European Union regulators have approved its Celvapan vaccine for H1N1. Report

Stung by criticism that it was late in launching production of a new swine flu vaccine, Canadian officials say that their mass vaccination program is better and far more comprehensive than the one prepared by U.S. officials. Actual vaccinations aren't expected to begin now until early November. Story

Vaccine Research

Vical is reporting some positive results from a mid-stage trial of a new vaccine designed to prevent a lethal respiratory illness that can flare up in stem cell transplant patients. The San Diego-based biotech said that the TransVax cytomegalovirus vaccine demonstrated an overall increase in cellular immune response. Report

Inovio Biomedical says that interim safety and immunogenicity data from its therapeutic cervical cancer vaccine trial demonstrated that it is safe and well tolerated and achieved significant cellular and humoral immune responses at the lowest dose administered. VGX-3100 is a DNA vaccine targeting the E6 and E7 proteins of human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 and is delivered via in vivo electroporation. Release